Approaching publisher with prior self published work

[Sandhya]

Hello everyone
I am working on a manuscript that I would like to submit to a publisher. I am struggling with putting the prosal together. Is it a good idea to talk about prior self-published work or not? Will it help/hurt or not have any impact at all. I was going to include it in the "Biography" section.
My prior work is in the same genre (Childrens book), but still low on sales rank on Amazon (that's another possible question!). This is my prior self-published book fyi
http://amzn.com/B01CJ2D2JC

[Abigail]

From what I hear, don't bother with it unless you've had many many many many many many sales.

[James]

Why not, you have a lot of positive reviews. Ultimately they'll be looking at the new book or they'll glance at your cover letter and throw it in the bin.

[Vincent]

Usually, I believe they would want to know if you've been published with someone because that signals that an objective party liked what you wrote. Anyone can self pub, so it doesn't tell them anything. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I'm self pubbed.

If you have decent #'s then sure. It shows the same. I don't think it'll hurt, either way.

[Mellie]

Keep in mind the large publishers are closed to unsolicited submissions, meaning you need an agent first.

The publishers who take unsolicited manuscripts are usually smaller and sometimes e-book only. With a children's book you need a print edition and you need a large publisher behind you to get the title into the Scholastic catalogue, school libraries and book stores. MG/YA doesn't sell very well for indies as that age bracket tend to buy paperbacks, not e-books.